Blues fans, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, trust me you are not alone.  Where is the creativity in the offensive zone?  Where are the quality shots?  How long can the goalies keep their strong play going without being rewarded with wins?  Is Louie the Mascot a bear or an oversized rat?  Where are the goals?  Lastly, is this what to expect from the 2009-2010 St. Louis Blues?

Most of those aren’t easy questions to answer; if they were, as David Backes told me on Saturday, slumps wouldn’t exist.  However fear not, because I have the answer to the final one.  No, this isn’t what to expect.  Coming off of last season’s thrilling finish and the lessons apparently learned from a playoff sweep, fans and journalists alike sensed greater things to come.  Throw in a healthy Paul Kariya, a hungry and healthy Erik Johnson, and the return of Captain Eric Brewer (more on that later), and the playoffs seemed like an afterthought, it was more about how far this year’s team would go; the opening series in Sweden only reinforced those feelings. 

But as quickly as the highfalutin predictions hit the cyber world, the harsh reality of the NHL season set in.  Predictions mean nothing in the NHL.  Look at this year’s Colorado Avalanche, a team unanimously picked to live off fish heads in the NHL’s cellar; 22 points tie them with the Penguins for the NHL lead.  I don’t need to remind you about the predictions for last year’s Blues.  It doesn’t matter how the Blues themselves think they’ll finish, the NHL will do anything to prove them wrong.   Just look at the current home slide.  Dallas is ok.  Los Angeles and Phoenix seem to be overachieving.  But Atlanta, and Florida?  They sit 12th and 13th in the Eastern conference respectively.  Sure, anyone can win in any given game in the NHL, but what stands out is the manner in which these teams are winning…easily.  It’s almost formulaic; the Blues fall behind early, and play catch up the whole game.

Blues fans are frustrated, the Blues coaches are frustrated, the Blues players are extremely frustrated, but there is a silver lining.  Take a breath before you read this.  It’s just a slump.  That’s all it is.  The blogosphere and message board-osphere are filled with threads and blogs calling for trades, calling for players to take the AHL paycut, and calling for Andy Murray’s job.  Blues fans, keep your hands off the panic button, and let me repeat, it’s just a slump.  Look at the numbers.  Anyone who thinks Brad Boyes isn’t going to score 20-30 (maybe even 40) goals this year is on glue.  This isn’t Major League Baseball, you can trust these guys’ numbers.  Look at Brad Boyes’ numbers closely.  As a Blue he’s averaged 38 goals a year.  You can say he started slowly this year, so maybe he only gets 30.  That’s still enough since you can assume most of his goals will come with the man advantage.  The numbers remain favorable even for the aforementioned Paul Kariya.  Since the lockout he’s averaged 23 goals a year; this year he’s still on pace for 27, and he’s slumping right now.  Those are just the established guys.  With the kids (Oshie, Perron, Berglund, Johnson) it’s not even fair to run the numbers because they haven’t reached their full potential; they’re all under twenty-four years old.  Just like last year, these kids are going to hit their stride soon, and unlike last year, they’re going to be even better. 

For the record, I use these players as examples, and in no way mean to place blame on any one of them.  There has been a microscope on Brad Boyes and even David Backes, but as Keith Tkachuk told the press on Saturday, “One or two guys aren’t going to get us out of this.” 

I asked Chris Mason whether this slump was the result of the system, or even of guys not buying into the system; he said neither, it’s more about issues with execution.  He added that the team is doing things that are uncharacteristic of the way the guys play.  I find that encouraging.  That tells me that it’s not an issue with coaching, and that the Blues have the right personnel.  And finally (and most importantly) Blues fans it tells me that this team is just going through a slump.


Quick Hits, News, and Notes, (slump edition)

* David Backes told me he thinks part of the reason the team isn’t scoring is that when this home slide started, they got frustrated and started making the game more complicated.  Several other players and even Andy Murray had similar theories.  Murray so much so that at practice on Sunday it appeared to me that Murray was going back to basics.  He had the forwards work on cycling drills and neutral zone regroups without much defensive pressure.  The forwards also worked on rebound chances in tight by standing about a foot away from the crease and trying to stuff in rebounds.  I didn’t get a chance to talk to Murray following practice, but to me it looked like an attempt just to simplify the games.

*  From the reports I’ve received it seems Andy McDonald will be ok following a head-first crash into the end boards.  At Sunday’s practice Tkachuk remarked how lucky McDonald was considering how he fell, and said he can’t even watch the video.  It's fun to be scared on Halloween, but that collision was downright terrifying. 

*  Those wondering about Carlo Colaiacovo’s upper body injury can breathe a sigh of relief.  John Davidson told me Carlo has the flu, and they are being cautious with him.

* Speaking of the flu, it’s starting to creep in to the NHL.  Some notable players slowed by the flu include Doug Weight, Peter Budaj, and Dallas goalie Marty Turco.  Edmonton has been hit especially hard so far with 6 cases.  There are conflicting reports as to who has H1N1, and who has seasonal flu, but either way this is a story that will stay relevant for the duration of the season.  John Davidson told reporters that the Blues are on top of the flu situation and have been educating the players since the beginning of training camp.  They even had Carlo Colaiacovo take a cab to the airport instead of riding with the team bus to try to isolate his case of the flu. 

* Finally, T.J. Oshie is expected to make his return to the team Thursday.  This will instantly help the Blues since his energy and enthusiasm every shift can help turn the tide of a game.  I asked him when he knew something was wrong with him, and he told me that he felt kind of nauseated before the game against Minnesota, but didn’t think anything of it.  He then mentioned it to team doctors, again not really thinking it would be a big deal, and they insisted he get it checked out just to be safe.